n an August Certification Survey, the Department of Health cited Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehab Medicine for multiple deficiencies. Komanoff, a Nassau County nursing home located in Long Beach, received a deficient score for failing to establish an infection control program.

A facility must establish infection control program in order to help prevent the transmission and spread of disease and infection. The DOH noted two incidents in its report relating to this deficiency. First, an LPN was noted to break a resident’s pill in half without wearing gloves. The LPN had cleansed his hands with gel before beginning his treatment of the resident, however the DOH report states that he should have both washed his hands and put on gloves before handling the patient’s medication. In the second incident, an LPN failed to wash her hands and put on clean gloves after administering medications via a gastrostomy tube but before giving a resident eye drops. In the course of then dispensing the eye drops, the LPN’s uncleansed gloved hand to contact the area near the resident’s eye.

Although the LPN’s in both of the above instances corrected their mistakes while with the patient, carelessness such as the type demonstrated in these incidents can have serious consequences. Moreover, at first glance, these mistakes may not seem alarming. However, the failure to properly cleanse one’s hands can spread infection in the patient. It can also spread infection among other residents. It should be noted that both patients above had Hepatitis C. Vigilant attention must be paid on the part of the the nursing staff in order to avoid spreading such a disease to other residents throughout the home.

In addition to the deficiency for failing to follow infection control guidelines, Komanoff also received less than satisfactory rankings in the following areas such as food preparation, nursing home maintenance, and availability of an alternate power source.

The Department of Health website has the entire deficiency report for Komanoff here.